Wednesday 2 April 2008

VN-Index rebounds for fourth day

(01-04-2008)

Ha Noi Securities Trade Centre employees hard at work yesterday. The VN-Index continued a modest rally on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Quang Hai

HA NOI — The HCM City Stock Exchange yesterday continued its controlled rally of the past several days, with the VN-Index once again nearly bumping its head on the recently-instituted one-per-cent daily trading band to close at 516.85, an increase of 4.51 points or 0.81 per cent.

The value of the day’s trades was a very modest VND149.38 billion (US$9.3 million) on a volume of 2.7 million shares, a fall of 28 per cent in value from Friday’s already meagre session.

Agribank Securities analyst Dao Van Khanh said, "The tight trading band is making turnover narrower. But, more importantly, it’s making the remaining investors more enthusiastic about trading."

All 153 codes advanced within the maximum trading band of 1 per cent.

Khanh said that the narrow band should be kept in place for a while longer as there was no good news on the horizon to stabilise the market long-term.

According to analysts of EuroCapital Securities, the recovery of the market was also being spurred by official buys this week by the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC).

Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh last week acknowledged the SCIC’s role in the stock market, saying at that time, "the SCIC is creating a separate fund to invest in securities and then the buying will begin next week."

"Investors should direct their investments based on business results of listed firms. They can then avoid losses when the trading band is loosened," said EuroCapital analysts.

FPT led the market yesterday in trading volume, with 281,820 shares changing hands.

According to Nguyen Khanh Tung, a broker with Hoa Binh Securities, the strong buy of this share yesterday was probably due to good news in the company’s shareholder meeting on Sunday.

"There should be a very good business result or high dividend payment from FPT, I guess. That’s why investors traded heavily in FPT today," Tung said.

In Ha Noi, the HASTC-Index yesterday advanced 2.85 per cent to 181.43. About 693,800 shares changed hands on a turnover of VND29.5 billion ($1.8 million). — VNS